God allowed her to be born talking and funny. Then, life experiences starting at age five covered her with anxiety, extreme fearfulness, withdrawal and ultimately depression. But, a sensitive heart for God and trusting Him at the age of seven would eventually change everything. Author of Married Beyond Recognition and Every Time I Go Home I Break Out in Relatives, Sylvia Harney rediscovered a gift for laughter in her early twenties while attending Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee. Following Belmont she came to the attention of folks who wanted her to be the next Minnie Pearl, or the Christian version of Lily Tomlin, and she began to do comedy with country music artists. To this day, Sylvia Harney remains the only comic the late Minnie Pearl ever personally introduced to the Grand Ole Opry stage.

All the while, Sylvia was aware of an enormous hunger for God’s word. She memorized it...wrote it on cards that lived inside her handbag and could be ‘whipped out’ at a second's notice. She planned her day around the radio teachings of some of God’s true giants, such as Chuck Swindoll and Kay Arthur, later taking every Precept course and eventually teaching them in her own church. She listened to God’s gentle nudge and left that other world in a cloud of dust, never to look back.

When asked how she lives each day or where her exuberance comes from she says, “I begin every day putting my entire life in God’s enormous, trustworthy hand, I ask Him to guide, shelter and protect, then I just stay in His Word, trust Him and show up expecting Him to be there! I live each day as a brand new morning, a gift from God’s own hand.”

A recent letter contains this comment of her time with a group. “Your Sunday morning testimony was absolutely sacred. Many hearts were touched. It helped to lead the meeting to that moment when many made decisions to follow Christ. I especially appreciated the way you spent time with the ladies during the free times. You gave 105% of ministry. Believe me I am spreading the word about the dynamic ball of laughter called Sylvia Harney!”

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